Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."Matthew 19:14

Pages

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Sharing in God's Riches for Everyone

Christ
Episcopal Church

Children’s
Chapel

September 25,
2016

Proper 21C

Theme: Sharing In God’s Riches

Bible Reference: 1 Timothy 6:17-19

Introduction: Good morning girls and boys! Do we have any new friends
today? (Welcome new friends.) I am so happy to see everyone here! Today girls
and boys we are going to hear two stories about sharing. Before we listen to
each of these stories, I would like to hear in your words what sharing means to
you. Let’s put on our thinking caps and think for just a moment lets think about
what it means to share. When you have an idea, raise your hand. (Allow
responses.) You all have a wonderful understanding of what it means to share!
You are right that sharing means that we give something that we have to another
person so that they have a little bit too. Sharing can also mean that we give
of our time to another person who may need our help doing something or who may
need someone to visit with them. Another way that we can share is to give of
our special gifts and talents in order to be a service to another person or
persons.

Bible Story: Today in our Bible reading the apostle Paul talks about
what it means to share in God’s kingdom. In his letter to Timothy Paul says, “Tell
those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so
obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go
after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be
rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll
build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.”
Paul says in his letter to Timothy that to
store up riches that we have here on earth is silly. He also says it is better to
share our riches with others and to do good for God so that we can store up
treasure in heaven. I wonder what Paul means. Let me share another story with
you that may help explain what Paul is saying.

Read Aloud: “The Little Red
Hen Makes a Pizza”

Response: In the story of “The
Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza” the hen asks for help from all of her friends to
make a pizza. But what happens? No one wants to help her! The Little Red Hen
could have said, “Well, I just will eat the whole pizza by myself!” But what
does the Little Red Hen do? You are right! She shares the pizza with all of her
friends even when they have not helped her. Later when the hen asks for help to
wash the dishes do her friends help her? Yes! They are happy to help. Let’s
look back again at what Paul said in his letter to Timothy. He said, “Tell
them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do
good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous.” Sharing of our
possessions or of our time or of our talent is not always easy. We may want to
keep everything for ourselves, or we may not want to give our time or talent to
help someone else. The Little Red Hen shared her time, talent and pizza with
her friends even when they did not want to help her. She showed her friends
love even if they didn’t really deserve it. She could have been angry at her
friends and she could have kept all of the pizza but instead of storing up
everything for herself, she was generous with her friends and shared her
riches. What treasure did the Red Hen share so generously with others? You’re
right!She shared her pizza, her time
and talent AND she also shared her love. In return the friends were able to eat
the yummy pizza and they also gained an even greater treasure which was the
love they were given so graciously by the Little Red Hen. In the same way, God
generously and graciously gives us his love. Paul says that when we are sharing ourselves
whether we share something we have or we share our time or our talent, we gain
a great treasure which is found in participating in God’s love and grace for
everyone.

Pray: Heavenly Father,
we thank you for the the many blessings you so graciously give to each one of
us. Help us to trust in you so that your love may be shared with others through
the gifts you have given us. In your holy name, Amen.

Response
Activity (Crafts, Singing, or Another activity will be provided.)